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Show Sun Advocate Wednesday, August IS, 1904 cointmms Local! family tended Notre Dame school, where they played basketball. At Carbon High School they were on the football and ByARVA SMITH Staff writer Delicious Lebanese bread, shaped into round loaves, then deftly stretched thin and baked .quickly on both sides in a hot oven is one of the best kept cooking secrets in Carbon wrestling teams. Now the children are grown and some are living in other parts of tiie country. But there are 17 grandchildren, who help keep at high level the demand for Lebanese bread. Cooking for a large family came easily to Kathryn Woodard Howa, a native of Panguitch. I was the oldest in the family and grew up helping my mother in the kitchen, she said. Learning to cook the Lebanese dishes, traditional in the Howa family, took a little County. But the good flavor and delicate texture of the freshly baked bread are well known to the John M. Howa family, their relatives and friends and others of Lebanese decent. The bread, somewhat like pita bread, has been baked for centuries in the traditional way, sometimes over an open fire, in countries. Mrs. Howa, said her mother-in-lar, her husbands bakes bread in an outside brick oven whenever she comes to mid-Easte- rn time. I learned to cook Lebanese step-mothe- dishes vist. One of the Howa sons said, We called it Syrian bread for half our lives until we found that the village from which our great grandparents came was in Lebanon. In her book The Peoples of Utah Helen Papanikolas explains, Many of the Lebanese who settled in the United States and elsewhere were' identified upon their arrival in their new homelands as Syrians. such immigrants continue to this day to think of themselves as such whereas their native land was, in fact, Lebanon. Mrs. Howa bakes Lebanese bread often for her large family, alternating it with the bread, familiar to everyone, which is made into loaves. As her 11 children, one daughter and 10 sons, grew up, Lebanese bread was a treat after school, or after the football game or wrestling match, as well as a staple for meals. Some people use small portions of the bread almost as a otirer food, spoon when-eatinMrs. Howa said. The bread is enjoyable as part of a meal. But it is the stuff memories are made of when fresh from the oven it is spread with butter and honey or jam. The always-populpeanut butter and jelly topping is also good. TCie bread can also be made into pizza or pocket bread. When by watching my husbands aunts and cousins such as Aunt Christina Phillips and her daughter, Alice Howa, she said. Mrs. Howa found that sometimes there is no right way and wrong way but that it is a matter of adapting and finding out what is successful for you and what your family likes to eat. One of her husbands relatives always rolled stuffed grape leaves while holding them in her hand but another said the proper way of rolling the filled leaves was on the counter top. While learning Lebanese cooking, Mrs. Howa said she found that the Lebanese people are very gracious and hospitable in the serving of food. She said she was told that during the depression years that many transients got off the train at Helper. They were often directed to a business operated by her husbands father, her husband and his brothers. She said the transients got food if they were willing to work unable to ?forit.f If work, they got it without hesitation. Mrs. Howa met her husband, John, when he was working near Panguitch on a bridge construction project on the road to Bryce Canyon. Her husbands parents, Mose John Howa and Sophie Gazell Howa, had both emigrated with it is baked as pocket bread, their families to the United States in the 1890s from fillings such a pastrami, other meat, shredded lettuce and Lebanon. After arriving in this country, tomatoes, and other salad met and were married in be can used. they vegetables Salt Lake City. They lived in All my childrens friends gave enthusiastic approval to Hiawatha, Scofield, and Provo Lebanese bread, Mrs. Howa before moving to Castle Gate in 1926. said. It never lasted long. They later moved to The Howa youngsters at- - Helper. -- ar . Mrs. Kathryn Howa demonstrates the technique for flipping the Lebanese bread after removing it from the oven. The bread tastes somewhat like pita bread. & Sons, Inc. was established there on property that was once At one time Uncle George Gazell, Uncle Abe Howa, Uncle John Howa, and Johns dad, had a pool hall in Hiawatha. My husband remembers selling ice Mrs. cream at ball games, Howa said. Most people, especially Lebanese, in those War-- II days, married within ethnic their own tightly-kn- it groups, Mrs. Howa recalls. But both families gave approval to the romance of Kathryn and John. They were married April 26, 1941 in St Anthonys Church in Helper. During their first years of marriage they lived away from Carbon County as he worked on construction of the air base at Wendover and the naval depot pre-Wor-ld ; the Prince farm. John M. Howa & Sons, Inc. sells building materials such as building block and oil well supplies and related products. The Howa daughter and sons include Mrs. Jean Ann Dimick, . Mose John Howa, named after V" his grandftherHowa; Deward Lee Howa, named after his grandfather Woodard; Robert Lynn Howa, Daniel Howa, Rex and Roy Howa, who are twins; Paul Howa, Phillip Howa, Edward Howa and Frank Howa. The Howa sons have all worked in the family business. . -- Following are Mrs. Howas recipes for Khubz (Lebanese bread) and Mihshi Waraq at Clearfield. (stuffed grape leaves). She has also included a recipe for Mihshi After a few years of construction work, they moved to Sunnyside and a little later to a location near Price on the Carbonville Road. The family business John M. Howa war-relat- ed Malfuf (stuffed cabbage leaves). Khubz (Arabic Bread: Basic Bread Dough) 5 cups hot tap water, add IV cups evaporated milk 2 Vz teaspoons dry yeast IVz teaspoons 5 5 5 sugar teaspoons salt tablespoons oil pounds flour Sprinkle yeast on top of liquid, then sprinkle sugar on top of yeast. While this is working, sift flour into large mixing bowl. Make a depression in center. Stir salt and oil into liquid. Mix into flour a little at a time, making sure all batter on the sides of bowl is worked into dough. Knead until smooth dough results and the sides of the bowl are clean. (Hands are occasionally dipped in warm water while kneading to give dough a smooth, elastic finish.) Cover dough with plastic and let rise in a warm place until it is from one hand and arm to the other as it stretches in size. Place on cookie sheet, bake on bottom rack long enough to see a bubble or two and the bottom getting light brown. Then place under broiler to lightly brown top. Place on cloth covered surface tocool. ..This bread freezes welLT Continue rolling until it is Vk to of an inch thick. Place stuffed leaves in the bottom of a IVz quart pan. A little soup stock can be put in the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking. (Bones from meat may be boiled with water to get soup stock.) Mrs. Howa has a metal plate on the special bottom of her oven. The bread, stretched thin, is placed on a special wooden paddle then slipped onto the hot metal plate in the oven. She said this sets the dough and bakes the bottom. She then moves the bread up under the broiler to brown the in pan. Note; top. She said when she has used a cookie sheet that the bottom of the bread had to be browned under the broiler for a few seconds as well as the top side. Mihshi Waraq (Stuffed grape leaves) 1 pound of finely chopped lamb shoulder 1 cup uncooked rice V teaspoon cinnamon (Note ground beef may be used instead of lamb. If ground beef is used add V cube of butter. ) Soak rice in hot water 10 minues. Drain water. Add all ingredients.' If ground beef is used, put butter on hot rice before other ingredients are added. Mix well. Prepare 55 to 65 grape leaves by rinsing them with hot water to wilt them. (They are easier to roll if wilted.) Drain. Place heaping teaspoon of filling on the dull side of the leaf. Begin rolling as with a jellyroll. After the first roll fold ends in. , Arrange rolls compactly. More than one layer may be put with water. teaspoon of salt over Barely cover Sprinkle rolls 1 Place a pottery plate on top of the rolls so they will remain firm and not unroll. Place on medium heat for 15 minutes, then turn heat to low and allow to steam. Two sprigs of mint or a tablespoon of dry mint may be added before cover is placed on rolls. Add a little water if it all evaporates. Note: If fresh grape leaves are not available (those of Thompson grapes are best) they may be purchased at a specialty store such as Georges Market, 86 East 100 South. If grape leaves are purchased, they should be rinsed in cold water Mihshi Malfuf (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls) Parboil cabbage leaves until limp and easy to roll. Place in colander. Separate the leaves and drain. Cut each leaf in half. If ribs are large or coarse, slice off part of the rib. Use same filling as for stuffed grape leaves, and place a tablespoon of the filling on each cabbage leaf. Roll as for jelly roll and place compactly in pan. A little diced garlic may be placed between each layer. Stack each new layer in the opposite direction from the layer beneath.. Cook the same as for stuffed grape leaves. double in bulk. Sprinkle edges of dough with flour, then grab large, orangesized balls from the edge of the dough and forai into smooth balk. Handle the dough as little as possible. Place balls on floured cloth. (A mixture of regular flour and masa ferina will prevent dough . from sticking.) Cover with cloth and plastic. Let rise for 30 to 45 minutes. Prehfeat oven to 450 degrees. On a well floured surface pat dough, working with fingers over lapped on edges of dough in a counter clockwise, semicircle, turning dough around. Continue flattening and turning until edges Mrs. Kathryn Howa throws the Lebanese bread dough Into the air to help form the round, flat product. are thin. Make depressions in center of dough with fingers. Pick dough up with both, hands, tossing or rolling The pocket bread almost looks like a tortilla, but rises more and can be filled wjth delicacies to make a meal all itself. |